


tears

by deandratb



Category: One Day at a Time (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 18:15:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19481347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deandratb/pseuds/deandratb
Summary: Deleted scene from "What Happened." What kind of role could Schneider have played on that day in Elena's life?





	tears

Schneider heard Elena before he saw her. Quiet, desperate sobs, the familiar sound of gulping for air. She cried a lot like her mom, fighting it even after she lost the battle. 

As he turned the corner on the landing, there was his favorite gay teenage Cuban girl, tucked into the side of the stairwell, sniffling when she saw him, swiping at the tears behind her glasses. 

“Hey, Schneider. Don’t you usually take the elevator?”

“Sometimes I like to get in a little cardio. Make sure things look alright, no safety hazards.”

 _No sobbing tenants,_ he thought. “You don’t usually take the stairs, though. Everything okay?”

She shook her head. “No.”

Her lack of elaboration worried him. When she wasn’t ranting about social justice, Elena could be a lot quieter than Alex. Things that really hurt, that was the stuff she held onto more tightly. 

He wondered where Penelope was, a concern that he absorbed and then let go. She couldn’t be everything to her kids, even if he considered her the best mom in the world. Elena needed allies, other adults. 

As the only adult currently in the stairwell, it was up to him to try and help. 

“Hey.” He crossed to where Elena was, tears starting to slide down her cheeks again. “Hey, come here.”

“Talk to me,” he added above her head after she accepted the hug. “What happened?”

“It’s my dad,” she said through her tears. “He...he’s been talking to Alex. He’s been **seeing** Alex--I caught them having pizza.”

Schneider frowned. Between Elena herself and comments from the rest of the family, he was pretty well filled in on the particulars. Victor hadn’t offered her so much as an apology since the _quinces._ There’d been no word from him at all. 

“He’s been going behind your mom’s back? Behind your back?” Schneider kept his grip loose, a careful rejection of the tension he felt thinking about it. 

Elena didn’t need his feelings on top of hers, she needed somebody who could just be there. But there was a whole lot of anger he had to bury just then. At Penelope’s close-minded ex, at Elena’s father being not just absent but cruel. 

She didn’t deserve that. Nobody did, but especially not Elena. 

“I’m really sorry,” Schneider told her as she pulled away. She offered him a wobbly smile and readjusted her glasses, patting his arm in thanks. 

“Yeah. Me too. I was surprised to see my dad, but I really expected better from Alex. You know? I thought he was on my side.”

 _I thought you all were,_ she added silently, remembering a dance floor full of her friends and family, tears and hugs and a suit made with love enough to withstand even the worst moment of her life.

Schneider nodded, radiating sympathy, and Elena was grateful he’d found her. Everybody should have a Schneider, she decided. 

“So, Miss ‘Fight For Change’...what are you going to do about it?”

“Do about it? What are you talking about? I can’t make Alex stop seeing him. I told him how I felt, but Alex had to know I was going to be upset and he's doing it anyway.”

“Okay, you’ve talked to your mom and your _Abuelita_ about your feelings, about what your dad did,” he agreed, reminding her that her family talked to him even more than she did. “And you told Alex off...”

She nodded. 

“Is there maybe somebody you should be talking to about this that you haven’t, yet?”

“Do you mean _Papi?_ Because that’s all I’ve been trying to do for months. No answer. Like I don’t even exist for him anymore.”

“Elena. I’ve seen you tear apart total strangers for littering or packaging their food with plastic that doesn't biodegrade. I don’t know what you’ve been waiting all this time to tell your dad, but I’m sure you have a lot to say.”

There had been so many nights when she mapped it out in her head, the perfect words. Then there he was, and everything went blank. She swallowed hard, the tears threatening to come back. “Yeah.” 

“You were blindsided when you found him with Alex, right? But he was there. He was right there.”

Schneider waited for the wheels to turn, watched as Elena’s face went from thoughtful to certain to fierce. 

“He...he can’t ignore me if I’m right there in front of him. He **has** to hear me.”

“There you go. You got this.”

Curling both hands into fists, she gripped down hard on the hurt before relaxing her fingers. She let the pain settle deep in her stomach as fuel.

“I gotta go.” Elena grabbed hold of Schneider again, in a hug so quick and so emphatic that he let out a quiet _oomph._ “Thank you.”

She was flying down the stairs before he got out his _you’re welcome_. 

Victor had no idea what was headed his way, a small but mighty hurricane that he completely deserved. Schneider was a little bummed he wouldn’t get to see it. 

He knew he’d hear all about it later, though. That’s what family was for.

**Author's Note:**

> #26 in my 100 Stories Challenge for ODAAT. Prompt list [here](https://actuallylorelaigilmore.tumblr.com/post/186061589290/because-i-needed-a-challenge-to-get-me-back-into).


End file.
